FM 2012 - suggestion about wingers

in today's football there's no more left or right wingers. they are wingers and that's it!

for example: Capel or Jeffrén at Sporting Lisbon; James Rodriguez or Hulk in Porto; Nani at Man Utd; Cristiano Ronaldo or Di Maria in Real Madrid; Pedro or Alexis Sanchez in Barça...

those are players who usually play on both wings.

off course, if they are left footed, in the left wing they'll play more wider, in the right they'll play "cut inside".

why don't we stop with this restrictive definition and classify them just as wingers?

the "winger" in modern football is the position that has changed most in recent years. but in FM they stopped in time. i think it's time to change it, i think.

You've picked a very select group of the top players, how about the wingers in league 2, can they play both sides effectively?

Thanks for the post, but I disagree entirely. There are more and more "Wide Attacking" players now who can play on both sides, but there are definitely players who have preferred sides.

Ashley Young (although roams) favours Left Wing and cutting in on his right. Downing favours the right wing to cut in on his left (which in FM speak is inside forward on both counts I think).

I take your point that players Young, Downing, Bale, Nani, etc all switch with great efficiency. However the all have "favoured" positions which is, in the end what FM details also.

To name just one that springs to mind, Antonio Valencia is and always has been a wide right player.

The modern game does see wingers switching sides a lot more, but they are not all naturally capable of playing both. But then the game has too many who are strictly one-sided, so perhaps there should be more regens coming through who are natural one side and competent on the other?

watch juanma ortiz play left wing for rangers and you will realise that your argument is flawed. there are plenty of other players who fall under the category of being useless on their weaker side.

the majority of players who successfully play on either wing are still restricted by their ability (or confidence in using their weaker foot) and play a different game on one wing than the other.

i've watched cristiano ronaldo choose to hit crosses with the outside of his right foot or do a fancy cross

such as the 'rabona' rather than play a simple left footed cross (i'm not saying he cant or wont hit a cross with his left foot before the pedantry brigade turn up) and he is one of the best players in the world.

watching gerrard play left wing for england and 9 times out of 10 he would get into an excellent position for an early cross only for him to cut back to use his right foot

Downing favours the right wing to cut in on his left

I disagree here, I think Downing is better on the left as a traditional winger, and our differing opinions show that he's capable on both flanks. But yeah, there are lots of players who can only play on one wing especially well.

Some players really won't perform very well on the other side, particularly lower quality players. It's true that the greater trend to come inside changes this. I certainly think it should be easier and quicker, if it isn't already, to train a right winger to become a left winger than, say, a central midfielder, if it isn't already.